Bloodmaiden: A Hellboy story
by ZingZing
Summary: Hellboy has to stop an ageless mad man from destroying the world through the use of a girl who wields an incredible and ancient power.
1. The Wood

Bloodmaiden: by Danielle W.

This is a fanfic loosely based off the Hellboy of the Hellboy movie. There is little Hellboy fan fiction out there and someone has got to start writing them. Expect more!!! HAHAHAHaHA!!! Anyway, this is a serious story that combines an old love with a new one, that being Hellboy.

She is running for her life. Darkness envelopes her like a blanket and branches slap and scrape at her face as she fearfully runs through the wood. The sound of footsteps behind her grow loud. They are hurried and communicate to her frightened senses that they desperately wish to catch her. She slips and tumbles down a sharp hill that suddenly materializes out of the darkness. A scream fills her mouth and echoes into the night. The loud hunting murmurs of the party chasing her are all that answers her cries.

She picks herself up and continues running. After a while she notices a sharp pain in her right knee which grows more intense as she runs on it. She moans and curses her fall. She fears that her knee may be her doom - slowing her down enough for "them" to capture her. 

She stops and looks around, seeking direction or at least a place to hide until the party passes her. She turns to her left and runs down another slightly less sharp hill, barely managing to keep from falling again in her haste. There! She sees a hollow under a tree, hidden by leaves - she decides to hide there. 

She climbs into the hollow and covers leaves over top of her to complete her camouflage, and waits in terror for the party to come - praying that the do not notice her spot and continue on their way. In the darkness of the hollow her mind is full of light - thoughts of wonder and regret as to how she has gotten herself into this situation.

It was over a year ago. She had always had a fascination with the paranormal and a cautious interest in the occult. A year ago she decided to explore that interest in depth. It seemed like such an innocent start - joining an internet group for those interested and experienced in the occult so to meet with each other and share knowledge. She did not take it seriously, thinking no harm would come from joining a group of wannabes and pretenders. Then she had met him - the clichéd tall, dark, mysterious and handsome. He was real … and powerful - more then she knew. He found her, he said, through sensing her energy pattern through the internet. He wanted her …, so he said, so to train her in the occult and help cultivate her powers. She believed his words and became his student. 

It did not take long for her role as student to dissolve into something some would call a lover, but she would call just plain awkward but addictive. She should have suspected something was wrong then when he started asking to take her blood - just small samples. It was a fetish he had. He approached her out of the blue and she went along with it out of curiosity and a strange urge she felt inside of her body. When he made that first cut into her wrist and planted his mouth over her tender wound, all she felt was a pure and odd feeling pleasure that made her pass out. Whenever she awoke from these swoons she would be weak and he would be over her, caressing her and telling her sweet things. His face was too innocent and her heart too lonely. It was too easy to follow along with his plans, despite what her mind was telling her. Her body wanted other things and would not give up such pleasure. 

And so now, here she is - hiding in a hollow, waiting for freedom or death. To awaken from a blood letting faint to find herself bond and half naked on an alter - a thin and long sheet of clothe wrapped around her chest and privates, with him dressed in a long robe, fangs gleaming from his mouth, and robed and hooded people surrounding him - it was confusing and terrifying. The betrayal she and the lack of surprise she felt that he would do something evil like this; the realization that they were going to drain her dry; the urge to protect her life at all costs - so she fled into the unknown, running for her life.

She sighs and tries curling her body into a tighter ball. The cool smell of decaying leaves and earth soothes her haggard mind. She closes her eyes and tries to meditate - relaxing and trying to become one with the earth and desperately hopes that this may throw her pursuers off from finding her. In this meditative state, she slowly falls asleep …

***

"Alright so we have this girl whose been missin' for over 9 months. What's her name again?"

"Darayah Temoa."

"Yea, so this De-ray-ah goes missin' for a couple months. People have seen her though, always dressed in the same outfit and with a blank and drained look on her face. Also, she is always with the same group of strange people who treat her like she is their goddess. Some cult called the followers of Sharahiah. Each sighting reports her more weak and drained then the next. Abe, can you tell me what all of this means?"

The towering red demon known as Hellboy takes a chomp on all of the three Baby Ruth bars in his hand, talking between bites. He is sitting in a cage, one arm behind his head, the other clutching his three bars, on route to a field assignment and communicating to his merman meets the Creature from the Black Lagoon team mate Abe Sapiene, who is back at headquarters. 

"Well, this is an interesting situation we have here Hellboy. Apparently in ancient text …"

"How ancient??? Every text is ancient to you fish boy!"

"As I was saying, ancient Egyptian texts speak of the blood maiden - a goddess who lives in the body of a human female, rendering the blood of the host female into a powerful potion that brings any strength a person desires to all those who devour the blood. A cult arose seeking the goddess inhabited female, hoping to draw strength for whatever their purposes, from this female's blood. They are, as you know, the cult of Sharahiah. There are only two recorded cases of the cult ever finding the host female, and this eventually helped to lead to the fall of Egypt and the western Roman Empire. 

"There have been other minor cases, say of people receiving a blood transfusions and miraculously being cured of their illness but these are trivial in context of your current case."

"Woah! Well that's good news. Are you trying to say that this cult has found this "host" girl and that they have been using her for months and that she has the power to bring this country, no, world wide civilization as we know it collapsing down onto it's knees!"

"Precisely!"

"Just great! And how long has the Bureau known about this … No wait, don't tell me! I really don't wanna know! Always sendin' in Hellboy to deal with their screw ups. Man, this one is going to be messy, but I guess I wouldn't want it any other way. Shit, I need a cigar … WOAH! OW!"

The vehicle suddenly screeches to a stop. Hellboy whacks his head on the back of the cage and falls out of his chair.

"Real graceful of me … What's goin on?!?!"

Hellboy calls to the front of the car. His go between, Agent Myers, calls back.

"I think we found her!"

Hellboy huffs and smirks.

"Well wadda ya know, humph, looks like this ain't gonna be so messy after all."

***


	2. The Road

Darayah wakes with a start. She moans a sorrowful "no" in response to a fleeting nightmare in the spaces of her mind, thinking it is true - thinking that they discover her and capture her. She opens her eyes wide and takes a moment to look around and assess her situation. She remembers the awakening, the running, the falling, the searching, the hiding and now. Was she safe?

She notices the streams of light sliding in between the overlapping edges of the leaves that cover her hiding spot, bathing her in its warm glow. It was night then and now it is day. She must have successfully eluded those people - him. She was safe! Was she safe, she asks herself yet again? They could still be searching for her.

She cautiously makes her way out of her hiding spot, first making sure no one was around. The wood in the morning is cool and misty. The sun, which is half hidden by clouds, every now and then pours its nurturing light down into the wood. Darayah sighs. The ache in her knee feels much less painful and her sense of danger mutes its self. She wants to smile, for the wood is beautiful and eerie at the same time. She feels like some kind of princess lost in an enchanted forest, looking for escape back to her kingdom. She imagines that a unicorn has laid a magic trail for her to follow, all she must do is trust her heart and her purity to find the trail and keep on it. With this soothing thought in her head, which calms her shot nerves, she wanders the wood.

The mists seem to gather around her like ethereal clothing. She welcomes its camouflaging attention. She figures that she can sacrifice visibility for protection against the attention of any of those who pursued her last night. She did not expect the soft dirt under her feet to change into hard, cold stone - to stumble out of the enchanted wood back into reality represented by that of a lonely concrete road.

It was a not so lonely concrete road, she soon realizes. Headlights suddenly loom out of the fog. She was in its path, and with her injured knee and shot nerves, she could do nothing more then wait for the vehicle to hit her. Before this could happen, the vehicle screeches to a stop. She lets out her breath, not realizing that she was holding it, and then collapses onto the ground in surprise at how much she is exhausted and tired. Before she could hit the ground, she feels strong hands catch her and carry her weak body to the vehicle. In her ear she hears a comforting voice telling her that it was okay, she was safe - they had found her. 

***

"Blue? Didja hear that? Wesley nearly knocked her down! We found her! The woman was wandering aimlessly across the road, dressed in tatters. We're back heading to headquarters righ-taway." Hellboy quietly rejoices to Abe. He grabs his Babe Ruth bars off the floor and scarf them all down with a big gulp of beer.

"Yes. We shall send patrols to the area to see if from whomever she escaped is still in the area."

"Yea yea …" Hellboy mocks and takes another gulp of beer and finishes the can. He crushes the it on his forehead and tosses it aside, reminding himself to put it in a recycling bin when he gets back to HQ.

After this short celebration of laziness and not having to do any real work, and also burning inside (if that were truly possible) with curiosity, Hellboy opens a slot in the front of his hiding cage and looks in on Meyers and the girl.

*

"Who are you?" She asks in a tired voice.

"Myers, you may call me Myers. I work for the FBI. We have been looking for you for a long time Ms. Tomoa."

"Wha … what do you mean a long time? It's too early to be searching for me … especially the FBI … I only passed out for a couple of hours, didn't I? Yesterday, he … Yesterday I passed out and awoke on an alter that night … um, yesterday night … and now today, that is the day after I passed out …"

Darayah stops and looks at her arms. They are thin. Her bones poke out of her ashy colored skin. Small scars dot her skin. She gasps and looks into the rear-view mirror at her face. Although the ritual makeup the cult put on her face hides most of it, she notices how her drawn and hollow her cheeks are. She looks underfed and drained. Her eyes are puffy and red and there are small scars on her neck like the ones on her arm - circular bite marks. She thinks of "him" and his glistening fangs and she shudders. 

"Shhh … it is okay … Like I told you before, you're safe."

Myers reaches a hand and rubs on her shoulders and down her back. He places a wool blanket snugly around her body. 

"How long …?" She looks into his eyes, searching for an answer in their gleam.

"Now, this information might be hard to swallow …" 

"I see the signs when looking at my body. How long!?!" She glares at Myers now, slightly shaking, but with determination in her eyes.

"9 months …" 

Darayah closes her eyes and slides back into her seat, trying to understand the reality of her situation. It was worse then what she could have ever imagined. 9 months missing … 9months passing as though she were taking a quick nap. She could pass out right now and awaken a year, ten, twenty years down the road, like Rip van Winkle. It was frightening.

She forces open her eyes and something in the rear-view mirror catches her gaze. She looks into it. A slot on the huge box-like structure in the back on the car was open a crack. It was open enough for her to catch a glimpse of leathery red skin, a filed off red horn and glowing yellow eyes. She locks eyes with it and then the slot closes as the person behind it realizes that they have been seen. 

Darayah blinks, and her eyelids feel heavy. She closes them for just a little while but passes out into sleep - a sleep were she dreams about being back in the woods, only wandering in a different direction away from the road and the harsh truth. She dreams of finding the unicorn, only it is red instead of white, and has enchanting glowing yellow eyes and a filed off red horn,. She dreams of finding it and climbing on its back and galloping away into the mists.

*

Hellboy knew she had seen him - that look in her eyes told him all. Whether she believes what she saw is another issue. She will have to believe soon enough, and a voice in the back of his mind hopes she will be comfortable with his existence. Something about her was appealing to him, like how his cats were appealing to him. He feels like he has to protect her at all costs - as though she is like a defenseless new born kitten.

Hellboy scratches his head in bewilderment and tilts his chair back against the back wall of the cage. He grumbles something under his breath about really needing a cigar, and mutters a swear at whoever took his cigars out of his jacket. He then rests his feet on the table in front of him and crosses his legs. Getting comfy, he tilts his head down to his chest and closes his eyes, falling into a fitful dream-filled sleep, his demonic tail swishing back and forth. 

***


End file.
